Believing in the Flight
by phoenixforce50
Summary: Naruto sets out on his Pokemon journey. He has a long way to go to fill the shoes his father left him and defeat his eternal rival Sasuke. With determination and teamwork, he makes his way, getting the eight badges needed to enter the Pokemon League.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Alright! I'm gonna surpass every Pokémon ninja of previous generations. Believe it! " that was his dream: to become the world's greatest Pokémon ninja. He was a twelve-year old boy with shaggy blonde hair that stuck up all over the place an orange jumpsuit. His name was Naruto Uzamaki, and he was about to start on his Pokémon journey.

"Naruto! You know you're going to have to get a Pokémon before you become a Pokémon ninja!" Came a voice from downstairs

"I know mom, everyone has to get a Pokémon before they become a Pokémon ninja."

"Good, I'm just reminding you so that you don't forget, like when you forgot your homework all those times, and when you forgot your father had a mission and you spent the whole day looking around the village for him."

From his bedroom, Naruto cringed; every time someone mentioned his father's name, he was reminded of how big a shadow he was in. Naruto's father was a Pokémon ninja of great renown and was incredibly strong and talented, his Pokémon were strong too. Naruto's father told him that the spirit of a powerful Ninetales runs through their family's blood, and it allows them to face any challenge and rise above it. When Naruto was younger, he thought that this made him special, but it was soon revealed that many other families had similar spirits in their bloodlines. Shikamaru's family was said to be watched over by a Darkrai and Chouji's family by a Snorlax spirit, and so on.

"By the way, your father wished you good luck, and he hopes you choose wisely. Now get out! You don't want to be late!"

"Right mom!" yelled Naruto as he dashed out the front door, grabbing his headband on the way out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Must get there first, can't let Sasuke beat me to the good Pokémon, must get there first…!" _Naruto's mind kept repeating over and over. He couldn't let Sasuke get their first, he just couldn't. Sasuke had been the top of the class in Pokémon School _and _ninja school. He had outshined Naruto at every turn. Naruto was fed up with it and for once, just _once,_ wanted to do something better than Sasuke. The only way he was going to do that, he thought, was to get a better Pokémon than him. Naruto took every shortcut he knew of to get to Professor Jiraiya's lab fast enough. Naruto was just about to get to the front doors and open them when suddenly- bam! Naruto was blown off his feet as Sasuke walked calmly out the doors, holding a Pokéball. The doors swung shut and Naruto caught a glimpse of the red and white ball in Sasuke's hands and was filled with disappointment. He soon perked up and said "Who cares if Sasuke got here first? I'm Naruto Uzamaki, and I'm going to be the greatest Pokémon ninja ever!"

With those words, Naruto strode confidently up to the doors only to be knocked down again by Ino, followed by Shikamaru. They also held Pokéballs in their hands. Once again, Naruto stood up to the doors and knocked. The doors opened but Naruto jumped back just as they swung out, missing his nose by millimetres.

"Hello? I'm professor Jiraiya. Can I help you?" asked a man with very long white hair in a lab coat.

"Yes, I'm Naruto Uzamaki and I'm here to get my first Pokémon!"

"Okay then. Come inside please."

Professor Jiraiya led Naruto inside and showed him to a table with three Pokéballs on it.

"These are the ones you get to choose from. Once you open it, it will bond with you and give you special powers that will allow you to be a Pokémon ninja."

"Alright! So which one is Charmander?"

"None of them. Actually, all I have left is this Starly. No-one else wanted it."

"Aw, but Starly is a sissy bird, it's not even any good."

"That's not true!" yelled professor Jiraiya, suddenly angry "All Pokémon have the potential for awesomeness! You just have to find out what its strengths are and believe in each other!" and with that, professor Jiraya thrust the Pokéball into Naruto's hands

"It's the Starly or nothing!"

"Alright! I'll take the Starly!"

"Good! Now get out there and be a great Pokémon ninja!" the professor struck a dramatic pose, his finger pointing out the window with the light on his shoulders.


	3. Chapter 3

****My friend told me that Naruto actually punching a Pokemon was a bit extreme, but I said I didn't care, that's how things will work here: people punch Pokemon, Pokemon punch people. End of story (LOL jokes!)

**Chapter 3**

_Strengths and weaknesses, strengths and weaknesses, strengths and- _"STOP PECKING MY HEAD!" yelled Naruto. Starly stopped pecking him and scuttled further along his shoulder.

_Damn, how am I going to figure out what Starly's strengths and weaknesses are? It's just a stupid bir-_

Starly began to angrily peck him again. Professor Jiraya's words went through his head "_You are bonded, so you will have to learn to get along with each other."_

"Okay! Fine, but seriously, help me out here. I don't know what you can do, how am I supposed to work out you strengths and weaknesses!?"

Starly stopped, sat still for a minute, and then flew off to the trees. From there, it flew down at Naruto, its wings glowing with a bright light. It flew past and sliced through the trunk of the small tree behind Naruto. The tree fell and Starly landed on the top. Naruto walked over to Starly.

"Okay, so you can Wing Attack. Anything else?"

All of a sudden, Starly disappeared.

"What the?" asked Naruto, puzzled.

"_Starly_!" said Starly as it hovered behind him.

Naruto spun around to face it.

"Okay, so you can use Double Team too, that's pretty cool. What else?"

Starly was about to fly up but at that moment, an angry looking Spinarak climbed out from the fallen tree and hissed menacingly. Naruto stepped back and said

"Starly, use your Wing Attack on that Spinarak!"

Starly began to climb and swooped down on the Spinarak with its wings. The Spinarak fired a long sticky thread of web at Starly, causing it to tumble out of the sky and crash on the grass

"Starly! No! You're gonna pay for that!" yelled Naruto. He rushed at the Spinarak, his hands curling into fists, a slight light glowing off them. The Spinarak fired another string of web at Naruto. Naruto didn't even bother to dodge. The web went straight through Naruto and out the other side. Naruto then disappeared. All of a sudden, Naruto was behind the Spinarak, flying through the air with a powerful punch aimed straight at it. It hit the Spinarak straight on the head, just missing its horn. The Spinarak was defeated instantly. Naruto stood up and went to his Starly.

"Starly, are you ok?" he said after removing the web.

"Starly!" replied Starly happily.

"We did it! We won our first Pokémon battle!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Naruto had just reached a river when he saw a girl walking along the shore. She was about his height and had shoulder-length pink hair, held back by a headband with a wave pattern on it; the symbol of Cerulean village. She stopped and stared at her reflection in the water and straightened her headband when she noticed Naruto standing behind her.

"Eeek! Get away from me you pervert!" the girl yelled as she punched Naruto. Naruto went flying back and hit a tree.

"I'm not a pervert! Honest!" Naruto protested as he got up off the ground

"Then why are you following me?" demanded the girl

"I wasn't! I was just walking along the road to Viridian town!"

"Fine." The girl thought for a second "Hey, haven't I seen you before? On TV?"

"No, that was my dad. He's one of the great Pokémon ninja." Replied Naruto glumly

"I'm going to Viridian town too, how about we travel together? If your father is who you say he is, you can't be all that bad."

"Hey! I'm Naruto Uzamaki! I'm going to be the greatest Pokémon ninja ever!"

"Uh huh, sure. Anyway, I'm Sakura. We should get going before nightfall."


	5. Chapter 5

I know I'm jumping straight into action but I'm just not that good at writing calm scenes.

**Chapter 5**

Later, Naruto and Sakura reached the Pokémon centre at Viridian town. Night had just fallen and most people had gone inside for the night. There were many other Pokémon ninjas at the Pokémon centre, and many of them from different regions. Naruto and Sakura got their Pokémon checked and went to sleep. During the night, Naruto woke up. He couldn't sleep so he went for a walk. Starly flew up to his shoulder. He was about to get out the front doors when they were blown open by an explosion. Two people stepped through the smoke, their silhouettes visible against the fire in the background.

"_Prepare for trouble!" _came a female voice through the smoke.

"_And make it double!" _came a male voice.

The smoke cleared, and two people were revealed. One was a red-haired girl with a bandana; the other was tall, with long blue hair. Both wore thick ropes around their waists.

"_To protect the world from devastation"_

_"To unite all peoples within our nation"_

_"To denounce the evils of truth and love"_

_"To extend our reach to the stars above"_

_"Tayuya!"_

_"Sakon!"_

_"Team Supersonic blasts off at the speed of light!"_

_"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"_

_"Whismur! That's right!" _added a high-pitched voice from below. Naruto looked down and saw a Whismur staring back at him.

"What are you looking at, trash?!" cried the Whismur

"Whoa! A talking Pokémon!" exclaimed Naruto.

Sakura, who had been woken by the explosion and went to see what was going on, came down the stairs and saw Team Supersonic standing in the doorway.

"Naruto! What are you standing there for? Those are dangerous criminals! Get away from them now!"

"Huh? Oh, right!" Naruto quickly jumped back towards Sakura.

"What should we do then? We can't just let them blow up this place and get away with it!" said Naruto furiously

"Hang on, we should analyse their strengths and weaknesses first, then decide on our plan of attack."

"Stuff strengths and weaknesses! They are going to hurt innocent people and I'm not going to let that happen! Starly, use wing attack! _Kage-bushin-no jutsu_!" at that, three more copies of Naruto appeared around him, only they weren't just illusions, they were physical and capable of inflicting damage. Team Supersonic backed away for a second but quickly recovered.

"Go Treecko!" shouted Tayuya as she threw he Pokéball. A burst of white light appeared and a Treecko appeared.

"Sakon, you go and steal the Pokémon and I'll take care of this trash."

"Right." Sakon replied as he ran down a hallway.

"Hey! You can't just do that! We're in the middle of a battle!" yelled Naruto angrily

"Leave it alone Naruto. You go after him and I'll take care of this one." said Sakura.

"Okay." All three Narutos ran down the corridor, following Sakon.


	6. Chapter 6

Call me a sadist, I don't care. I still enjoy the ridiculous physical comedy they made Team Rocket go through.

**Chapter 6**

Tayuya gave a slight chuckle "Do you honestly think you can take me on? You worthless piece of trash?"

_She is really getting on my nerves, _InnerSakura thought _if she says anything about my forehead-_

"You do realise that you forehead is not a good fashion statement. You should do something abou-  
"Raaagh!" yelled Sakura as she threw herself at Tayuya, fists flying. Tayuya was caught off guard and went flying back out the door as Sakura landed a powerful kick right in Tayuya's gut.  
"_Treecko Tree!" _exclaimed Treecko. It then turned to face Sakura angrily. Whismur came up alongside it.  
"Even without its ninja, Treecko still packs a powerful punch. Whatcha gonna do?"  
Sakura grunted in anger and threw a Pokéball  
"Go Chansey!"  
A flash of white light and a rotund pink Pokémon appeared.  
"_Chansey!"  
_"Chansey, use Pound on Whismur!"  
"_Chansey! Chaaaaansey!" _yelled Chansey as it loosed a powerful punch straight at Whismur.

"Aaah!" cried Whismur as it also went flying back out through the door. At that same moment, Tayuya had just got up only to be knocked out again by Whismur flying into her head. Sakura smiled that quickly turned into worry as Treecko began to use Grasswhistle on Chansey. Chansey's eyes began to close and then it fell to the floor. Sakura quickly recalled Chansey only to send it out again, only, this time, it was wide awake. Tayuya, who had just got back up to witness it, said "What? How can your Chansey be awake already? It should still be asleep!"

"My Chansey's special ability, Natural Cure, means I can recall it and it will be healed of all status conditions." replied Sakura smugly.

"No matter, Treecko, use Screech!"

A horrible wave of sound came out of Treecko's mouth. Chansey grimaced and covered its ears.

"Chansey, snap out of it! Use Strength!"

Chansey recovered from the shock and rushed Treecko and gave it an enormous punch. Treecko went flying back into Tayuya. _Crap, not again _thought Tayuya as she fell to the ground, too weak to stand.

"Yay! We did it Chansey!" cried Sakura happily

"_Chansey!_" replied Chansey joyously


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Naruto had been following Sakon through the Pokémon centre. He had sent the three different shadow clones down separate hallways to check each room. Naruto progressed silently, putting everything about stealth he had learned at ninja school into practice. He followed his instincts and found a door that was ever so slightly ajar; he pushed it open just a little bit and saw Sakon filling a sack with Pokéballs. Naruto was so angry at this point that he forgot everything he had been trying to do and burst into the room yelling "Hey you! Put those back! How would you feel if someone took all of your Pokémon huh?"

Sakon turned and smiled evilly

"Well, I guess I would feel pretty hung up about that."

"Huh? What's that supposed to-" asked Naruto but as he was about to finish the sentence he suddenly went flying upwards. He had fallen for an ambush. As Naruto was swinging by his leg which was tied to a rope hanging from the ceiling, he noticed that although Sakon was still facing him with his arms by his sides, the Pokéballs were still being put into the sack behind him. That's when Naruto saw the other pair of arms working to fill the sack.

"You haven't met my brother, obviously, we are inseparable. You could almost say we're joined at the hip, except that's not quite accurate." said Sakon as he gloated over Naruto.

"Starly, help!" cried Naruto

_"Starly!"_ cried Starly as it flew in through the doorway, cutting the rope that held Naruto with a Wing Attack.

"Hey!" cried Sakon "You're not the only one who can play that game. Go Koffing!" a flash and then a Koffing appeared.

"Koffing, use Smokescreen!" Koffing began to belch out clouds of thick black smoke from its body.

"Starly, blow- *cough*-it away with your wings!" coughed Naruto as he covered his stinging eyes with his hand. The smoke began to clear but as Naruto took in his surroundings, he noticed that Sakon had once again, disappeared. In his place was a pile of paper slips with characters on them.

"Uh-oh." said Naruto as he saw the pile. A thread of chakra lead away from them but quickly broke.

KABOOM!


	8. Chapter 8

Jumping into the first gym battle here, probably the first full-on fight. Hope it's good enough. Skipped over the Viridian Forest/Forest of Death because I just couldn't be bothered. :)

**Chapter 8**

Naruto was sitting on the edge of a broken beam, with a cup of ramen in his hands. Starly was next to him, also eating out of a cup of ramen. Sakura was pacing in front of them both. Suddenly, Sakura spoke

"What happened anyway? Did you stop them from stealing the Pokémon?"

Naruto replied with a glum look on his face

"I don't want to talk about it."

Finally, Nurse Shizune walked over to them and said that she managed to get most of the Pokémon reverse-summoned in time. Naruto and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.

A few weeks later, they had arrived at Pewter village, built on stone; it was very old and home to many strong earth ninjas and Pokémon. Naruto had just entered the village gates when he saw the local gym. It was tall and imposing, made of stone and steel beams. Naruto raced up to the doors and was about to throw them open when Sakura grabbed him by the back of his collar and held him there.

"Aw, come _on _Sakura! I've gotta challenge the gym to get the badge so that I can become the world's greatest Pokémon ninja!"

"You may be still full of energy even after running through the Forest of Death but some of us still need rest. Don't forget, you're travelling _with _me, that means that you are not in charge."

"Alright already, if you wanna go to the Pokémon centre fine, I'll meet you there after I get my badge!"

Sakura let go of Naruto's collar and he fell to the ground, carried by his own momentum. He got back up and opened the door. Naruto looked through the doorway and saw a rock next to the battlefield. On it, there was a kid about his age, slightly taller with very thick eyebrows dressed in a green jumpsuit.

"Hey you! Bushybrows! I'm here for the badge. Come down from there so that we can battle!"

The boy on the rock looked at Naruto and then his Starly.

"A flying type, huh? Are you sure you're prepared to challenge me?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Naruto, puzzled.

"Well, flying type Pokémon are weak against rock type Pokémon. And I use rock-type Pokémon here."

"Type match-ups don't matter to us, we'll beat you anyway, right Starly?" Naruto boasted

_"Starly?"_ Starly looked at Naruto with a worried look on its face.

"Enough small talk. You want to battle? Rock Lee of Pewter gym? Then let's battle. Go Geodude!"

Lee threw a Pokéball and a Geodude appeared.

Naruto thought for a second _He's right, I can't just use Starly and hammer his Pokémon, I need to think this through. Wait, Starly isn't my only Pokémon, I can do this!_

"Go, Butterfree!" yelled Naruto as he threw the Pokéball. A Butterfree appeared and began to fly around Naruto happily.

_"Free free!"_ it cried.

"Okay Butterfree, we have a badge to win, so get out there and win for us huh?"

"_Free!"_ Butterfree replied.

"Geodude, use Tackle!" yelled Lee from the other side of the field. Geodude rushed at Butterfree and Naruto. Lee jumped on top of Geodude and braced himself, arms out and hands in fists, ready to punch.

"Butterfree, use Stun Spore on Geodude!"

A glittering powder drifted off Butterfree's wings and flew towards Geodude. Lee and Geodude both swerved to avoid the paralysing dust, but they went in different directions, and as such, Lee went flying off Geodude onto the ground.

"Great job Butterfree!" said Naruto enthusiastically.

Lee got up to his feet and called Geodude over to him.

"Geodude, use Rock Throw!"

Geodude broke off a piece of rock off of itself and threw it with all its might at Butterfree. Butterfree couldn't get out of the way in time and was hit with the rock. It was still flying, though it was hurt.

"Now Geodude, use Rollout while I use _Primary Lotus!"_

Lee stood still, concentrating as he held his arms in front of his face, muttering "third gate, gate of life…" Naruto tensed, expecting a powerful attack from Lee. When he removed his arms from his face, his skin was red and his eyes glowing. Geodude began to roll like a ball towards Butterfree, gathering speed as it went. Lee ran towards Naruto with incredible speed, and then began to unleash a flurry of blows that were so fast and so powerful that Naruto could do nothing while he was relentlessly pummelled by Lee's attack. As a finishing move, Lee sent Naruto spinning head-first into the ground with a sickening thud. Geodude had was about to hit Butterfree with its Rollout attack when suddenly a voice from no-where

"Butterfree, now!"

Butterfree began to beat its wings as hard as it could, generating a powerful gust of wind that slowed Geodude to a stop and then blew it all the way back into Lee, knocking him over.

Lee slowly stood up and stared at Naruto.

"What? How can you be standing? I used my _Primary Lotus _technique on you!"

"Hah, I'm Naruto Uzamaki; no silly little flower is going to take me down! _Kage-bushin-no jutsu!"_

Four more Narutos appeared and began to run towards Lee. As they reached him, one grabbed him and began to throw him around to the other Narutos who in turn, threw him around while pummelling him in a similar fashion to what he did earlier.

"_Naruto Uzamaki barrage!" _yelled Naruto as he finished. Lee got up and looked at his Geodude. It was knocked out.

"Lee's Geodude is unable to battle, Butterfree wins!" announced the referee from the safety of the sidelines.

"So you managed to defeat my first Pokémon, not bad. Let's see how you go up against my Machop. Go!"

A Machop appeared.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Machop, use Mega Punch on Butterfree!"

"_Machop!"_ cried Machop as it slugged the defenceless Butterfree. Butterfree was knocked out instantly.

"Butterfree, return!" said Naruto as he held out his Pokéball. A red beam of light drew Butterfree back into the Pokéball.

"Okay Starly, it's your turn now. Don't let me down!"

Starly nodded and flew into the centre of the field, staring down its formidable opponent.

"Machop, use Sky Uppercut!"

"Starly, Double Team!"

As Machop thrust its fist were Starly was, a huge ring of Starlys appeared around it. Machop looked back and forth, clearly shocked at the loss of its target so quickly.

"Starly, hit 'em hard with an Aerial Ace attack!"

"Starrlyyy!" cried Starly as it flew at Machop with its beak having streaks of white light glowing off it. It hit Machop hard on the head. Machop was dazed but not out.

"Machop, use Take Down!"

Machop put on a sudden burst of speed and rushed Starly, hitting it with most of its body. Starly was weak but could still fight.

"Come on Starly, you can do this, I know you can!" professor Jiraiya's words echoed through Naruto's mind _"You just have to believe in each other!" _

Starly made one last effort to get up, and then set its sights on Machop. The Pokémon was swaying slightly, as if unsteady. Starly glared at it with a fierce look in its eyes; a sort of inner fire as it soared through the air. Starly was then surrounded with the white light of an Aerial Ace. Starly hit Machop head-on and sent it tumbling backwards with the force of the impact. Starly was hit with recoil from the impact but Machop was knocked out. Naruto was the winner!

"All of leader Rock's Pokémon are unable to battle. Victory goes to the challenger: Naruto!"

"Yeah! We did it Starly, we did it!"

_"Starly!"_ agreed Starly happily.

"Well then, I suppose you'll want this then." said Lee as he strode across the field holding a small octagonal shape in his hand. It was the Boulder Badge. Naruto took it and performed a dramatic pose while Starly and Butterfree did the same behind him.

"I just got the Boulder Badge, believe it!" yelled Naruto.

"What!? You mean he _actually won!?" _cried a startled Sakura from the doorway. Naruto turned to look at who it was and saw Sakura.

"Hey Sakura, guess what? I got the Boulder Ba-"

"YES! I heard you! I heard you from all the way across town. Anyway, you got your stupid badge and I managed to get some rest. Let's go now."

"Okay!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

As Naruto and Sakura walked down the gravel path on the way to Mt Moon, a man with white hair and a mask covering most of his face appeared in front of them.

Naruto and Sakura looked at him.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto

"I'm Hatake Kakashi, and I was sent by professor Jiraiya to make sure you two don't get yourselves into trouble, after what happened with the Viridian Pokémon centre, the professor didn't want to take any more chances."

"Aww!" whined Naruto "I don't want a baby sitter!"

"Shut up Naruto. You should be thankful that professor Jiraiya sent someone just for you." scolded Sakura.

"But Sakura, why do we have to have this guy following us?" replied Naruto

"Because you are what some people call 'accident prone' and you are not to be left out on your own." said Kakashi.

_And hopefully I'll be able to stop him from accidently releasing the Ninetales within him. _thought Kakashi.

"So, let's quickly get to know each other then. Start by telling us your likes and the thing you hate the most, dreams for the future, stuff like that. I'll start." Said Kakashi, quickly changing the subject

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmm. Well I have lots of hobbies… Ok your turn." said Kakshi, pointing to Naruto.

_So… all we learned… was his name? _thought Sakura.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen! What I dislike is waiting three minutes for the ramen to cook. My dream…"

_Does he think about anything besides ramen? _thought _Kakashi_

"is to surpass my father and then, be the greatest Pokémon ninja ever!"

_He's grown in an interesting way _thought Kakashi

"Hobbies? Pranks I guess." Finished Naruto

"OK…And lastly, the girl." said Kakashi

"I'm Haruno Sakura, the thing I like is… well… the person I like is… Umm… should I say my dream for the future…?" Sakura was blushing furiously

"Oh my! The thing I hate most is Naruto." Naruto pouted "my hobby is…"

_Girls of this age are more interested in love than Pokemon training or ninjutsu… _thought Kakashi

"That's enough of that." said Kakashi

"Ok, now that we've all gotten to know each other, let's keep going. I assume you guys were on the way to Cerulean Village so let's go that way."


End file.
